Labour 36 Hours from the moment it was real and not braxton hicks to when she was born.

I started getting pain at Thursday March 3rd 2016  at 3 am in the morning. Thought it was braxton hicks again .Then when i got up at 6 am I had a gush of water. Not a full break. I went to the bathroom and then another big gush. Had a shower still wasn’t sure it was my water. I laid on the floor during contractions or on my ball with the breaks between. I had few small gushes and then a big gush again and then I knew .

My midwife student Kate came around 9am . I was only 1 cm dilated . I got into my bath at 10 am. Stayed there for as long as I could. Few hours for sure. By 4 pm I wasn’t coping with the pain. Our OBYGN had called while I was in the bath i was trying to talk to her but the pain was to much and threw down the phone and called for Cole. He spoke to her and she suggested we go up to the hospital for morphine.

We met our midwife at the hospital for a non stress test and morphine. Came home at 630 had dinner. Went to bed at 830. That was Thursday.

Friday March 4th at just after midnight I woke up pretty much screaming in pain contractions one on top of the other. Lasting to long. To intense. Felt like I was constipated and was straining to go. It tried sitting on the toilet but cole told me to stop and then he called midwife again. We where told to go right up to the hospital ASAP

Went to the hospital by 130 am Friday Was 8 cm dilated.  I had managed to sleep and rst long enough for my body to do what it needed to do and had great progress.

I was then  admitted and got into into the shower. It was not expected to go very long agt this point. But then I stalled. I Labored there in the worst pain for hours. I was up and down as cole used the shower head and moved the water over my back. I was leaned over the shower chair. I swayed and rocked. I moved from the shower to the bed to be  checked. No progress. I was stalled. Their was a cervical lip covering her to.

I Tried the gas for only one breathe and hated it.  Instant headache. Convinced to accept some fentanyl it took the edge of but stopped regular contractions . I had so hoped to go drug free and fought so hard.

The team Stated to talk about an epidural and oxytocin to start them again.

Bawled my eyes out. That was not what I wanted. I was scared of needing a c section if I did. i was sacred of to many interventions and wanted to let my body be as natural as possible.

They left cole and I alone to talk and Then I called my best friend to help me decide what to do. It took my BFF Laura, Cole, my midwife and the nurse to coax me into  accepting both. So freaking glad I did now. Wow I wish I had of sooner. Getting the epidural helped me relax enough to let my body do what it needed to do and gather its strength. But the time I had the epidural i had been laboring for 28 hours and it was not over yet.

Got set up with the epidural and iv and Oxycontin around 9 am i think it was?

Cried the whole time but felt instantly different. They tried to get me to sleep but I was to chatty. Not stoned or drugged just calm.and relaxed and casually chatted with the nurses about pregnancy life and my pku. Cole fed me water juice ice chips and My special formula.

At 1 pm I was fully dilated. Pushed for an hour and a half and the Joanna said if I didn’t make more progress in half an hour she needed to call the ob for an assessment. That we may need forceps or a vacuum.  That made me fear assisted delivery or c section. She was born 20 mins after that talk lol. guess it was all the motivation I needed.

I used a push bar with blankets tied on it to pull. I didn’t tear or need an episeotmy thank god. I had slight bleeding near the labia so she gave me 2 stitches but classified it as intake

Cole stood up at the very last minute and saw her be born .  Madelyn was born at 250pm March 4th 2016 . 10 days past her due date. Weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 48 cm long.

I wouldn’t let him watch before but he saw as she came out. I asked her if he could see and he said yes. I asked him to tell me what the baby was,  so he told me it’s s girl and I said really ??? I didn’t believe him.

Joanna my midwife said yes he’s right . She was born with the cord wrapped around her neck. So Joanna cut the cord asap and she was given oxygen . When she started to cr she was was placed on my chest it only took seconds. Cole cut the rest of the cord . They left some for him ceremonially. We a few  hours of skin to skin. She had no interest in breastfeeding, she never did the “breast-crawl” her lungs where to full of mucus though I did not know that then.

My labor had stalled cause she moved postier for a bit but the Oxycontin encouraged her to rotate again. So her head was a bit swollen. She had no effects from any of the drugs  which was a fear of mine the whole time. 

I also found out later she had a large amount of meconium at birth.

We had an amazing team of nurses and I was up walking around with in 2 hours of birth and even got to use the bathroom. I retained alot of water from the iv and drinking fluids. I ate nothing all day. I was very puffy and My legs felt weird I walked very bow legged.

Joanna said i did not bleed much during delivery and it’s already not as heavy as I expected. I had a shower right after I got up to pee while cole held her.

Then we where moved to the other side. We could have gone home at 10 pm but chose to stay the night I’m glad we did because we had a rough night learning to feed and she was choking and turning blue in color from all the mucus in her lungs due to the cord being wrapped around. So establishing feeding was slow . Her belly was full to so she wasn’t very interested.

We got home just after 2 on Saturday ♡ coles parents got to our house 5 mins after we got in and stayed for an hour.

She won’t sleep in her bassinet only wants to be on cole and I.

She was up frequently last night our first night at home. This morning cole took her from me at 5 30 am and put her in her bassinet and I passed out. When I woke at 8 am (OMG!) When I got up they where not in the room and I found them cuddled on the couch watching movies.

She’s having a lot longer feeds today and long naps !

All in all we are so happy ♡♡♡

I cant believe we did it. I am so in awe and so in love. she is the best part of us both. She is beautiful and perfect and so very teeny . She has changed our world and filled my soup. She is the answer to all my prayers, my wishes and my deepest dreams.